Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)
On the surface American idol seems like a harmless bit of television to search for the best singer slash pop star in the country. There’s something about the name of the show I have never been able to get past though and that is the ‘idol’ part. The bible says we are not to make false idols or Gods yet the title of this show is pretty explicit.
Now I realize that the title to some may not mean idol in the context of the way the bible describes an idol but doesn’t it? What we see are a series of trials in which hundreds of people are sorted through based on special abilities that others do not have, in this case it would be singing. Three ‘judges’ work to narrow down their prospective choices for the idol and then place the final choices in the hands of the masses to allow them to pick their American ‘idol’.
These 3 Judges, a trinity of sorts, where we see the wrathful one (Simon), the really nice merciful one (Paula) and the one that can relate to you (Randy). As they perform to the masses we see flashing lights, people near the stage with their hands in the air, cheering and praising their prospective idol. Looks like worship to me.
Finally after weeks of trials and tribulation the ‘idol’ is chosen. To some this article may seem silly but with the recent events where the song “Shout to the Lord” was sung by the performers and the word Jesus was removed has me looking at this show from a different perspective. First of all I believe that the only reason the show is using Christian inspirational songs is to get more donations for ‘Idol’ gives back. Another Irony there, if you will.
It’s well known that the Christian community out there is one of the most charitable groups and pandering to them evangelical style is obviously an easy way to reach that group. However we come back to the removal of Jesus from the song “Shout to the Lord” replaced with the words ‘My shepherd’. Why would this be? Maybe it’s because they aren’t singing this to the real lord but to the one they prize most, The “Idol”.
These kind of events are nothing new, when we look back to other contests such as Miss America and other Beauty pageants where women are chosen and prized for their appearance or physical traits. We also have shows like “The Bachelor” where a man picks his bride to be in a sort of orgy of dating many women simultaneously until he arrives at the woman of his choice. Reality T.V. is a reflection of society and a loss of moral values, although producers have taken many creative liberties to make these shows more dramatic they are still a good example of what humans have taken more pride in since the lesson of Adam in the Garden, himself.
